Argentines who pass quarantine on a cruise ship where there were deaths from coronavirus: “It’s a nightmare”

Claudia and Juan Henning they were in their cabin waiting for new news, they wanted to know when they were going to be able to go down of the cruise ship that became a nightmare since the expansion of the coronavirus began. They started hearing noises in the hallway, strange. There were almost no more passengers inside the ship, there were only 12 more Argentines. Suddenly underneath the door a kind of spray with a strong odor. Nauseating. Claudia with Juan immediately started vomiting. The crew was disinfecting the boat, by the virus. Claudia recovered as soon as she took her gloves and her chinstrap and broke the rule. He ran out of the room until he found a security camera. He approached her and began to scream, desperate, to get her out of there, that she couldn’t take it anymore.

“That day the confinement was able to me, I entered a state of anger and fear of insanity that people have, for the first time a crewman with a certain hierarchy came to see me to tell me to calm down and that I had to return to the room. To which my husband, who followed me, began to shout at this guy that they were going to assassinate us with those solvents they launched and thanks to that, now, at least, we are in a slightly better cabin, ”Claudia told him. to Infobae serving almost a month of confinement in his cabin.

Claudia and Juan Henning are a couple. They had decided to have a vacation on the sea. They wanted to see the Falkland Islands and then stroll through the Chilean south, which were the main attraction of the trip.. This is how they embarked on the Zaandam cruise, from the Holland America Line company, last March 7 in the port of Buenos Aires. The plan was to have a different vacation, meet an exotic destination, perhaps unique, for what it means, and go home to tell what those islands are about. In the midst of the adventure, the coronavirus spread throughout the world, reached the region, and governments around the world began to take unprecedented measures regarding the departure and entry of people to their countries.

The journey turned into a floating nightmare. The last time they set foot on solid ground was March 17 and from that day they are not allowed to disembark at any port. In the middle of what was already an unfortunate pleasure trip because of the uncertainty of not knowing how long they were going to spend in there, the worst happened. Above the ship, 4 people with coronavirus symptoms died and hundreds of passengers reported the same ailments. A few days later it was confirmed: the virus had entered the ship. Since that day, on March 22, they have been locked in different cabins without being able to leave by order of the crew.

The cruise wandered the sea for several days with no destination, trying to get off at some ports, but nothing. No country accepted them. Such criticism was the situation after the dead who, in the middle of the road, in the Panama Canal, had to change boats. To the Rotterdam cruise ship, where they are now, from the same company. In an operation that had the help of several nations, with diplomatic comings and goings, they managed to cross the channel in the new ship. Until they arrived at the port of Fort Lauderdale, in Florida, where the majority of the cruise passengers were taken back to their countries. There, the couple lived an unfortunate fact, a false promise. At first they were going to be taken on a charter flight paid by the company to Montevideo and from there, the national government was going to bring them to the country. But none of that happened and the plan was frustrated when they were about to board the plane.

“The only thing we ask is not to continue floating. We have been on the move for a month. It is today that I want to know why I am here, in the middle of the sea, aimlessly, we have no idea where we are going either. We want this message to reach the Government ”Claudia related. The boat is heading to the coast of the Bahamas, they reported.

There are still 12 Argentines inside the Rotterdam ship, waiting for the authorities to let them down.

Meanwhile, their hours, their minutes, they spend locked up in a cabin without being able to leave, the last piece of firm land they saw was a few days ago, a few meters away, they had the cement of the port of Miami, which marked them that every time they were closer to getting out of there. But everything changed.

“We are trapped, we are desperate. We want to be removed from this place. We need that. We are locked in a boat, what is going on. We don’t know anything, we don’t know why we are still locked up here, “Claudia tells Infobae while waiting for urgent news about his future.

“The responsibility for this lies with our national authorities, they have to do something to get us out of this boat, as they already did with 1,300 Europeans who are already home. We are 12 ghost passengers. We are in the middle of the sea. Claudia adds

The situation for those on the ship changed as the problems increased. First the ports of all the countries of the region that denied them disembarking, then sick passengers and crew, then four passengers killed with suspicions of coronavirus and finally the confirmation that the virus had entered the ship.

Thus, his days of confinement they went from worst to best. “There was a time when there was no food. And we ate what we could, with great fear. Because at the time the virus outbreak exploded on the ship, we didn’t even want to eat for fear of getting it. The boat had neither chinstraps nor sufficient control measures to give us security, ”said Claudia.

“Just two days ago we started to eat well. Healthy. Luckily we never lacked water ”, he continued.

Any movement that comes from the other side of the door, becomes a concern inside the cabin because of the fear that the virus will enter for the least thought of place.“We wash everything before, dishes, cutlery, everything”, clarified.

Then, the issue of hygiene is another issue. “We wash with soap and hang it in the bathroom. Towels are not removed for health reasons, so we also wash them. We do everything within these four walls, they always left us soap and toilet paper ”he counted.

On the other hand, Claudia said: “In addition to all this we must add the fee that you are on evil and the ship is moving. You can have days of a calm sea, or days with the angry sea. I had two whole days in the other boat while sailing, in which I vomited because of the discomfort caused by the movement of the cruise. ”

“We can’t go out into the hall. We call the exit door “the forbidden door”. Now we are living in luxury, really. We had very bad times in the other cabin we were in before. Almost without food, a lot of tension. We are better now, but we have been floating for a month. And we are in the middle of the sea, aimlessly. Without knowing where we are going to stop “, story.

The 12 Argentines inside the cruise await news. According to what they are told, the Foreign Ministry is in talks to get them out of there and put them on a charter flight, but they no longer have many illusions. “It is what we most want this nightmare to end once and for all and to return home, ”Claudia concluded.